Bush's Gambling Debts

Jeffrey Sachs looks at Bush's bad bet over at TomPaine.com.

"George W. Bush’s economic policies have been based on an extraordinarily reckless gamble that reflects a political coalition of two major forces: the super-rich and evangelical Christians. As those policies fail, global financial markets are reacting negatively, adding uncertainty to the world economy, and there is little relief in sight, because America is entering a period of prolonged political infighting and stalemate.

The super-rich were motivated to join the Bush coalition by one overriding objective: tax cuts. Evangelicals were brought in because of Bush’s opposition to abortion and gay marriage, and promises of active government support for religious activities.

Bush believed that tax cuts for the rich would one day be balanced by cuts in spending, but never explained this to the public. For four years, he pretended that budget deficits were of little concern. Only after re-election did he begin to explain that large budget deficits require cuts in Social Security, health care spending and other areas. "